Measure a Pool From the Satellite Map

Every dose on a pool is sized from its volume, and plenty of pools arrive with no dimensions on file. A freeform pool has no formula at all. Tracing the waterline on the satellite map gives you the pool's real water surface in square feet. With depths on file, OpsVara turns that into gallons on the Pool Profile.

Why square feet

Pool companies measure a traced pool in square feet, not acres. A 16 by 32 ft pool is 512 sq ft, which reads as 0.012 ac in acres. So on a pool site, every area you draw on the site map reads in square feet, with gallons and the perimeter beside it. Aquatic and lawn sites keep acres.

Trace the pool and use it as the surface

You need an office role to draw on the site's Map tab.

1. 1

   Open the site's Map tab

   Open the site from DirectoriesSites and click the Map tab. Or click Measure on Map on the Overview tab's Pool profile card, which opens the same tab. A pool site opens close in, on the yard.

2. 2

   Trace the waterline

   Pick Area in the tool palette, or press A. The drawing bar reads Click around the waterline, not the coping or deck. Click around the edge of the water. Close the shape by clicking the first point, or click Done. The bar shows the square feet and gallons as you go. Draw on the Site Map covers the tools.

3. 3

   Choose Use as pool surface

   The area is listed under the map, for example Pool 1 · Area · 512 sq ft water · ~19,000 gal (avg 5 ft) · 96 ft perimeter. Click Use as pool surface on that row. The Pool Profile's shape becomes Measured Area, with the traced square feet as its surface.

4. 4

   Read the confirmation

   A green note under the row says what happened to the volume.

A volume someone typed is never overwritten by a trace. Switch it yourself when the trace is the better number.

Measured Area on the Pool Profile

Measured Area is a pool shape like Rectangle or Kidney. Click Edit on the Pool profile card, keep Volume Source on Use Calculated, and pick Measured Area under Shape. It asks for Water Surface (sq ft), with the hint Trace the waterline on the site's Map tab with Area, then choose Use as pool surface. You can also type the square feet from the pool's plans. Add Shallow Depth (ft) and Deep Depth (ft), then Save Pool Profile.

The volume is the surface times the average of the two depths times 7.48 gallons per cubic foot. With only one depth filled in, the pool is treated as that depth throughout, which suits a spa or most above-ground pools.

When the card has no volume, it warns Pool volume is not set yet — the dose calculator can't size chemicals until this is filled in. For an office role it adds No dimensions? Use Measure on Map to trace the pool on the satellite map and estimate its gallons.

A tech can pick Measured Area too. It is one of the Pool Shape chips when the visit wizard asks for the pool setup on Water Test, from app 1.4.13.

Assumed depth

With no depths on file, the map's label estimates gallons from a typical depth and says assumed. That is 5 ft for an inground pool, 4 ft for an above-ground pool, and 3 ft for a spa, by the Pool Profile's pool kind. The label reads, for example, ~19,000 gal (avg 5 ft, assumed). Add the real depths for a real number. The assumed gallons only appear on the map: a Measured Area Pool Profile has no calculated volume until it has depths.

On the phone

In the field app, Map → Measure on a pool company measures in square feet. Draw with Area, and close it by tapping the first point once it has three points, or tap Keep. The readout reads, for example, 512 sq ft water · ~19,000 gal (avg 5 ft) · 96 ft perimeter. Pick an average depth with the 4 ft, 5 ft, or 6 ft chips. Gallons appear only once a depth is picked, and tapping the picked chip again clears it.

On the phone and on the web map, gallons from a trace are rounded to the nearest 500, or the nearest 100 under 5,000, because a trace is not precise enough for more. The Pool Profile's calculated volume is not rounded. Measure is a scratch pad: nothing it shows is saved to a site or a job. The square-feet readout needs app 1.4.13.

How accurate it is

A trace is only as good as the imagery. An edge 1 ft off moves a 16 by 32 ft pool's area by 10 to 15 percent, and the gallons move with it. Trace the water's edge, not the coping or the deck.

Until someone measures or confirms the pool, mark it as an estimate. On the Pool Profile, Edit and tick This volume is an estimate. The card then shows Estimated next to the gallons. A tech who sets up the pool in the field can switch on This is an estimate for the same badge. Untick it once the number is confirmed.

Verify it worked

• The Pool profile card on the site's Overview shows the gallons you expect, with Measured Area as the shape when you open Edit.
• The next pool visit's Dose Plan has amounts, instead of Pool volume is not set, so no chemical amounts can be calculated.
• To find pools that still need it, filter DirectoriesSites by Pool setup → Missing sanitizer or volume or Volume estimated.